How genuine are Glassdoor company reviews?

[MyUserName]

Where I work there is at least one fake review there. It is very negative but the generic comments do not actually apply to what we do here and the job title they claim to have had for 10 years is not one we actually have.

I have also seem highly posititve reviews pop up for a ghastly place that I used to work at.

Very hard to tell which ones are real and which ones are not unless you already know the place.

[tvr450]

I was looking at a DevOps role at a certain F1 team in Surrey last week, but their Glassdoor reviews were so bad I did not bother.

[northernladuk]

I was looking at a DevOps role at a certain F1 team in Surrey last week, but their Glassdoor reviews were so bad I did not bother.

I'd have guessed a setup like that would have negative reviews due to the pressure...but likely to be many peoples dream job. Each to their own.

[saptastic]

- Glassdoor also have commercial relationships with employers to advertise so there is a conflict
- One experience good or bad can not always be reflective - often there are good teams and bad teams
- As is clear on trustpilot can you really trust an anonymous online view?

Also is it relevant for contractors.

[Zylon]

A few replies here centre around why bad companies might have more need for contractors. While I agree with this, I don't think it's relevant really as the OP is presumably considering the contracts already on offer, from a mix of well rated and poorly rated companies.

I would personally still far prefer the company with a good environment, even to the point of a moderately lower rate. There are many reasons why good companies also need to bring in contractors, particularly if they're small or if it's a niche, stopgap or time-limited role.

I would distinguish between a company that may be backward technically and seeking to modernise - who are receptive to change, and with generally amicable staff, vs a company who are backward because of politics, bureaucracy and luddites - I would try to avoid the latter as even a good rate is not worth it if I can't do my job and my skills slip as a result.

[CatOnMat]

Why does the review of a company matter to a contractor?

What use is a job search to a contractor?

Gotta change your thinking fella.

Glassdoor also includes reviews of the organisations from contractors & freelancers, which are worth having a look at in to get a feel for how good/bad/mature they are in dealing with non-permies, for example. This can include being made aware of clientcos terminating contracts early or generally messing around...

Also one of the reasons I went contract was to have a greater say over my working arrangements and environment wherever possible, so looking at the permie reviews is also potentially useful as given a choice I'd probably rather work somewhere where there was an indication of happy people / interesting environment / nice company rather than than a complete "car crash" of a site (two extremes I know).

In my experience the reviews look genuine enough (I'm sure some sycophantic-looking ones are posted by internal HR but you can sometimes spot those), as they have tended to bear out my experience of the organisation once I've got to know it. I also know that at my last place HR took it so seriously that one of the internal recruiters was tasked with monitoring the site and responding to critical reviews (and where warranted following up further internally).

There is also interview feedback which although rarer for contractor engagements can still give a useful indication of things one might be asked at that stage.

[unixman]

If nothing else, Glassdoor has photos of the office environment, so there is that. At least you get an idea of whether the office is reasonable. I'd not base a decision on that though.

[BlasterBates]

If you use Glassdoor regularly it will force you to write a review, so it does mean you can rely on the fact that a lot of the reviews written are probably genuine, unlike Amazon where most people wouldn't bother.